Motivated or enlightened?

I listened to two different speeches today. One was motivational. The other one was philosophical. Two different perspectives. Here I am listing two different stories that were told, one from each.

Motivational:

A man worked hard throughout his younger years and became a billionaire. He used to travel frequently to meet new clients and continued building his empire. One day, while he was on a business trip, one of his associates asked him why he continues working hard even after accomplishing so much.

The billionaire replied, “It takes a lot of effort to take this flight off. It requires powerful engines, gallons and gallons of fuel, so many people’s coordination and efforts. But that doesn’t mean that we can switch off the engine and relax once we gain the altitude. We will simply fall and crash. Life is no different. You have to continue working hard even after you reach great heights or else you will fall down and crash”.

Philosophical:

A simpleton was sitting on a lake’s shore and fishing. A well-accomplished man came by this way and was appalled that this young man is wasting time fishing instead of working and becoming successful. He decided to advice the guy and approached him.

“Young man, why are you sitting here and killing time. You could find a work for yourselves instead”

“How would work help, sir?”, the simpleton asked.

“You could work hard and earn money”

“Then?”

“You could get married, settle down well”

“Then?”

“You could reach great heights in your work and become wealthy by the time you retire”

“Then?”

“You could sit, relax and enjoy fishing by a nice lake shore”

“Isn’t that what I am doing now? Why should I work hard and wait till I retire to do what I am doing right now?”

Well, I am confused now. Which path to take? What about you? Are you motivated or enlightened?

I prefer to stay motivated, although I will take time off to refresh and reboot. My curiosity about the world is still very much on fire. With my senses I see, hear, smell, taste and feel. There are so many reasons to use the senses. They breath new life into my passion for living. To live is to be engaged. I am very blessed to have mind, body, and spirit still in good working order. I choose not to squander precious opportunities to learn and grow. Besides…I suck at fishing!

Oh,I am enlightened, my friend! Maybe for a little while I thought I needed money and success because I had none in the past, but I quickly realised I didn’t have the time to enjoy the money, because I was too busy making them :D. It’s probably supposed to be some sort of balance and discipline, to know when to drop work and enjoy life, enjoy family…

They’re both illustrative in their way, but I lean toward the philosophical. Especially over the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking heavily about doing more of what makes me happy, and feeling less like apologizing for it. Sounds like the fisherman has long known that.